PLASTIC OSTFRONT

PLASTIC OSTFRONT

RULES FOR 1/72 SCALE WARGAMING

ARTILLERY

Essential points of how the rules function…

Artillery is organised into battalions of 3 to 6 models plus crew, prime movers FOO and HQ elements.

Normally the models are deployed in the SUPPORT AREA behind the baseline with a marker to show the range to table.Then they shoot into the playing area up to their maximum range including the on-table distance.

Guns may shoot at targets visible to them but usually shoot indirectly with their targets controlled by a Forward Observation Officer.

The FOO deploys 3 target registration points – TRPs – on the board and it is with reference to these that shooting is done.

In any turn the FOO can attack enemy located within a certain distance of the TRP, if targets are further from the TRP then it takes longer to get fire onto the target. The FOO can sometimes also move the TRPs.

HQ elements can also function as FOO but may not be so effective .

Once the target is selected a type of barrage is called down upon it.

The effectiveness of the barrage may be reduced due to weather or ranging errors – using dice.

All elements in a barraged area get PINNED and all check to see if they are hit.

Elements hit check to see if they damaged.

ORGANISATION

One gun represents a battery ( normally 4 to 6 guns) .

Three guns represent an artillery battalion.

Battalions may comprise up to 6 batteries if desired and of various calibre weapons.

For each BATTALION the player will have a template for the area affected by a barrage (sheaf).

IF THE BATTERY HAS 2 OR LESS GUNS DEDUCT 1 FROM HIT CHANCES.

Each battalion will have a Forward Observervation Officer (FOO) who can be at the battle line.

Separate batteries can only be used if they are detached to a battalion at game start and are controlled either by a dedicated FOO or the battalion HQ. These individual batteries use a beaten zone template which is half the normal size.

Company and higher level headquarters elements can also function as FOOs for flexible troops.

Battalion and higher level headquarters can functionas FOOs for inflexible troops.

Mortars behave as guns but have their own templates. Are controlled by any HQ in their regiment or if part of the divisional or higher level have FOOs as artillery.

If deployed within the SUPPORT AREA then batteries must have an accompanying chit which indicates how many metres behind the base-line they are located – this is the ‘range-to-table’ and must be added to table ranges when considering fire effects.

Procedure for Artillery Shoot

1) SELECT TARGET, MISSION TYPE AND INTENSITY.

2) DICE FOR EFFECTIVENESS ON TABLE 3.

3) IF FIRE ARRIVES LAY TEMPLATE AS PER TABLE 1 OR 3 AS PER MISSION.

4) ALL UNITS OVERLAIN ARE PINNED IF INTENSITY OF FIRE IS 2 OR MORE AND THROW FOR HITS ON TABLE 4.

5) HIT UNITS THROW FOR DAMAGE ON TABLE 5.

6) DAMAGED UNITS THROW FOR DAMAGE EFFECT ON TABLE 6.

Target Registration

.FOO or HQ elements can register a target for an artillery mission i.e. choose an element or location to shoot at.

Inflexible artillery targets are registered before the battle : either enemy elements or possible locations.

Flexible artillery targets can be registered during the battle as enemy elements are spotted during the battle.

A FOO CANNOT MOVE UNLESS HE IS IN A RADIO-EQUIPPED VEHICLE

FOO can deploy 3 Target Registration Point (TRP) markers each indicating a registration point before the battle plus 3 dummies.

Flexible FOOs can retain theirs for allocation during the battle if desired.

Inflexible FOOs cannot move their markers but flexible FOOs can.

It takes one move to move 1 marker: place the marker in its new location : FOO does nothing else that turn.

Dummy markers can also be moved.

Guns may fire under instruction from an HQ with the same flexible/inflexible restrictions.

Artillery can be called down this game turn upon enemy elements within 10 cm of a marker.

Artillery can be called down upon elements within 30cm of a marker with a possible penalty of effect.

RED ARMY : INFLEXIBLE BUT CAN TARGET WITHIN 1000m OF A MARKER (WITH A PENALTY).

Intensity of Mission

A fire mission can be called down in 3 levels of intensity.

1 – harassing fire – sporadic fire to irritate and hamper enemy

2 – effective fire – normal intensity

3 – maximum effort – all-out rapid fire

Each uses ammo equal to the same number of units as intensity.

Unless specifically stated missions are assumed to be intensity 2.

Types of Mission

Battalions can shoot several types of mission:

BOMBARDMENT: Normal mission which saturates an area. One dice thrown for each element in area.

CONCENTRATION: If the guns are within 4000m of the target they can focus on a single spot – perhaps a pillbox, and have an increased chance to hit the target.

Each element in the beaten zone dices once for each battery contributing.

RED ARMY ARTILLERY CANNOT SHOOT CONCENTRATIONS (BUT CAN OVERLAY BOMBARDMENTS).

CREEPING BARRAGE : INITIALLY AS bombardment BUT EACH SUBSEQUENT TURN MOVE THE TEMPLATE TO ITS BACK EDGE.

One dice for each target.

RED ARMY ARTILLERY CANNOT SHOOT CREEPING BARRAGE (BUT CAN SHOOT SUCCESSIVE BOMBARDMENTS TO SIMULATE IT).

PINNING

All elements within an area under fire are PINNED.

Area Affected (Sheaf)

A battery creates a zone of blasted ground of size dependant upon its calibre and mission.

BEATEN ZONES FOR ARTILLERY BATTALIONS – CONCENTRATION

(NOT POSSIBLE FOR ROCKETS)

CALIBRE	WIDTH	DEPTH
<75mm	75mm	100mm
<100mm	100mm	100mm
<120mm	125mm	100mm
<160mm	150mm	100mm
>160mm	180mm	100mm

ARTILLERY TABLE 1.

BEATEN ZONES FOR ARTILLERY BATTALIONS – BOMBARDMENT

CALIBRE	WIDTH	DEPTH
<75mm	150mm	150 mm
<100mm	180mm	150 mm
<120mm	200mm	150 mm
<160mm	250mm	150 mm
160mm+	300mm	150 mm
ROCKETS (6 BARREL – HALVE AREA)	400mm	300mm

ARTILLERY TABLE 2.

DICE FOR EFFECTIVE BOMBARDMENT:

(modified intensities of 0 or less are considered to have no effect)

NON-FOO CALLING -1 INEXPERIENCED -1 VETERAN +1

POOR -2 FOO IN AEROPLANE +1 TARGET >100mm FROM TRP -1

CALLING ARTY NOT IN OWN COMMAND -2 RUSSIAN ARTY TARGET >300m FROM TRP -2 SUBSEQUENT IDENTICAL REQUEST +1

0 NOTHING THIS TURN (NO AMMUNITION USED)

1 -2 INTENSITY

2 -1 INTENSITY

3 -1 INTENSITY

4 FULL EFFECT

5 FULL EFFECT

6 FULL EFFECT

ARTILLERY TABLE 3.

ARTILLERY HIT CHANCE TABLE

INTENSITY

TARGET

IN OPEN

TO HIT COVER

HASTY COVER

PREPARED POSITION

FORTIF’N

HARASSING (1)

NORMAL (2)

6 FOR 156mm+

MAX EFFORT (3)

THROW EQUAL OR BETTER

TO HIT

ARTILLERY TABLE 4.

ARTILLERY DAMAGE TABLE	{}in Hasty Pn ()in Prep’d [ ]in Fort’n # INF HITS, 2ND CAS		THROW X OR BETTER TO KO
SHOOTER	VS INF OR GUNS THROW EQUAL OR BETTER...	VS SOFT	VS OPEN AFV	VS AFV <4 MAX ARMOUR	VS AFV 4+ MAX ARMOUR
<75MM HEAVY WEAPON GROUPS	#1 3+{4+}(5+)[6+]	5	X	X	X
<110MM	#1,5+ 0+{1+}(4+)[5+]	4	6	X	X
<156MM	#1,3+ 1+{2+}(3+)[4+]	3	5	6	6 then 56
156MM+	#2,5+ 0+{1+}(2+)[3+]	2	4	5	6 then 456
ROCKET	#1,4+ 1+{2+}(3+)[5+]	3	5	6	6 then 56
	(Poor/Inex target add 1 to dice)

ARTILLERY TABLE 5.

DAMAGE EFFECT TABLE

SOFT VEHICLES

123 IMMOBILISED 45 SPEED 3"MAX, TOW LOST 6 SPECIAL HIT

(PERSONNEL CARRIED TAKE APPROPRIATE HITS)

GUN

CREW HIT AS PER INFANTRY

WEAPON DAMAGED AS PER OPEN AFV - DAMAGED = UNUSEABLE

AFV

1 IMMOBILISED

2 SPEED 3" MAX

3 MAIN GUN DAMAGED FOR 1 DAY

4,5,6 SPECIAL HIT

PERSONNEL CARRIED:

CLOSED AFV : TAKE HITS -1 , PINNED

OPEN AFV: TAKE HITS , PINNED

ARTILLERY TABLE 6.

LIMITATIONS ON SHOOTING

Ammunition

Each battery has 6 points of ammunition for use in the game and extra points for pre-game bombardment as follows: OFFENSIVE: 12 DEFENSIVE: 6

Extra loads may be purchased. A truck carries 6 points of ammo per axle.

Safety Margins

No target may be fired at which is within 150 metres of friendly troops if the fire is at markers registered before the battle, otherwise 300m.

Moving Vehicles

Vehicular targets must be stationary when targeted.

Surprise Shooting

The first turn of shooting on a target (not pre-game barrages) gets a +1 to damage chance (not hit) rolls

unless artillery fell within 500m on the previous game turn.

Value of Cover and Its Destruction

When a unit in cover is hit then the cover may also be damaged.

Alternatively it is possible to shoot with the intention of damaging cover.

When cover is hit an area 60 x 60mm is affected – the area under a hit element or the 60mm square nearest the shooting battery which is not yet damaged.

Impacts of Concentration fire also halves the effectiveness of minefields but they must be spotted first.

COVER	DEFINITION	COVER VALUE	Score to Collapse IF HIT	COVER VALUE AFTER COLLAPSE	COVER VALUE IF PREPARED	Score to Collapse IF HIT	COVER VALUE AFTER COLLAPSE
LIGHT STRUCTURE	WOODEN (INCL. PART STONE)	NONE	6	NONE	HASTY	8	HASTY
HEAVY STRUCTURE	BRICK/STONE	HASTY	8	HASTY	FORTIFICATION	12	PREPARED
MULTI-STOREY HEAVY STRUCTURE	MULTI-STOREY BRICK OR STONE	PREPARED	8 per level (TOP DOWN)	PREPARED	FORTIFICATION	12 per level (TOP DOWN)	PREPARED
			Throw 6dice plus barrage points			Throw 6dice plus barrage points
HASTY	FOUND ON BATTLEFIELD. CAN STOP BULLETS.		NOT APPLICABLE
PREPARED	IN POSSESSION OF AREA 24 HOURS AND WORKING ON DEFENCES		10	HASTY
FORTIFICATION	WORKED ON FOR AT LEAST 24 HOURS BY ENGINEERS		12	PREPARED

ARTILLERY TABLE 7.

COUNTER-BATTERY FIRE

USING FLASH AND SOUND LOCATION EQUIPMENT – which must be bought - OR AIRCRAFT - IT WAS POSSIBLE FOR THE LOCATION OF ENEMY ARTILLERY TO BE PIN-POINTED. FIRE COULD THEN BE RETURNED TO NEUTRALISE THE EFFECT OF THE ENEMY ARTILLERY.

TO EXECUTE COUNTERBATTERY FIRE:

· Place a battery (or more) on Ambush Fire

· THE COUNTER-BATTERY ELEMENT MUST BE WITHIN RANGE.

· THROW FOR EACH BATTERY – ASSIGN A CB BATTERY TO EACH IN TURNAS THEY FIRE - IF ENOUGH AVAILABLE. A DICE ROLL OF 5 OR GREATER IS NEEDED [ (3 FOR ROCKETS) +2 if Locator Unit or Obs Aircraft used] TO SPOT THE ENEMY FIRE. A CB BATTERY CAN DICE FOR AS MANY ENEMY BATTERIES AS FIRE THAT GO UNTIL IT SUCCESSFULLY SPOTS ONE.

· Shoot CB artillery with template at centre of located gun’s base.

OFF-BOARD ARTILLERY CAN BE MOVED TO NECESSITATE THE ENEMY TO START LOCATION AGAIN.

MOVE THE ELEMENTS IN THE SUPPORT AREA AND CALCULATE WHAT THE NEW RANGE-TO-TABLE IS.